Hornmasters: Merewether on Horns

Richard Merewether writes at length about horn design in The horn, the horn… Merewether was for many years also a professional hornist in Australia and England and a horn designer for Paxman. The period when he wrote The horn, the horn… (1978) was after partial blindness had forced him to limit his horn playing and turn toward full time work with Paxman.

One point he brings up is about different bores of horn. We tend to throw around the terms large bore or small bore but he points out that the differences lie in the tapered parts of the horn, that the actual bore is, on average, about 12 mm. He favors horns that are not too big. “It should be stated that the notes of a medium bore horn do not so easily wander in pitch as do those of larger-bore instruments” and they also give a well-centered “traditional” sound.

One new topic is that of screw bells.

Many players find it convenient to carry their instrument about ‘incognito’ in an anonymous-looking rectangular case, and this is also sometimes of advantage in travelling, but it does add considerably to the weight of the horn, since the screw-rings are necessarily sturdy to withstand distortion through damage—in which event the horn cannot be assembled.

The increased weight could be about four ounces or more than 100gr, and in a heavy instrument such as a triple horn this can just make it uncomfortable to hold—though many people elect to have them so.

Apart from that consideration, the acoustic effect upon the instrument is extremely slight—although strong personal preferences sometimes exist about this. The presence of the screw-rings does of course rather inhibit vibration of the bell-flare at that point, but since opinion seems to be divided as to whether this is of advantage or disadvantage, the matter is best left as one of individual choice.

Horns are made of several different types of metal, with three alloys being most common, brass, nickel silver, and gold or rose brass. Brass and gold brass are alloys of copper and zinc, with gold brass having a higher copper content of 85% compared to 70% for brass. Nickel silver is similar to brass but has nickel added to the alloy in the range of 10-12% nickel. Merewether notes that many consider nickel silver “best avoided in small-bore horns; it meets with success however in those of larger bore.” Merewether additionally notes in relation to these larger bore horns (such as the Conn 8D) the following.

The writer feels no doubt after many years concerned with nickel-silver horns of every size and make, that this metal distinctly brightens and ‘condenses’ the tone, affording in addition a sound-spectrum of shrill overtones. A contrary opinion for many years existed in America, where it was held that nickel-silver brought a so-called ‘dark’, rich sonority to horns. The reason for this is that the instruments in that metal which became widely available there were of very much wider bell-taper than the medium ones they had been used to until that time, and naturally seemed richer in sound; this was wrongly ascribed to the alloy rather than to the instruments unfamiliar contour and response.

Merewether also discusses at length the manufacturing processes involved in making a horn.